It was not that long ago that businesses relied on their on-premise servers and networks as their basic computer infrastructure. Today, a new business has more options. It can decide whether it should just stick with an on-premise solution or adopt the cloud.

However, this decision on what infrastructure to invest in for computing needs should not be based only on which solution offers superior technology. It also has to take into consideration the question of cybersecurity.

Let’s take a look at how cloud computing compares with on-premise computing in terms of safety and performance.

Security

Many businesses are hesitant to adopt cloud computing because they believe that cloud computing may not offer sufficient protection against data breaches, ransomware, or hacking attacks. The basic reasoning to justify this belief is that since a client has no control over how their information is stored in the cloud their data is less secure.

Is this belief justified? Actually, no. It’s not even close to the truth. Cloud service companies like TierPoint LLC keep clients’ applications safe by using the best threat management tools available in the cybersecurity industry. They can set up a threat management portfolio for their clients’ needs that will grow with their business. In fact, the opposite is more likely to be a risk-factor—relying on an on-premise infrastructure to stay safe.

Here are two reasons why cloud computing is the safer option:

Insider Threats

While a business will have total control over what threat management tools they use, they are also vulnerable to employees with malicious intent overriding their security protocols.

By comparison, employees whose company uses cloud computing have no power to override the security measures offered by a third-party cloud provider. They are not physically close to the data, don’t have any access the cloud’s security protocols and have no personal or working relationship with those maintaining cloud cybersecurity.

Business Continuity.

By protecting your data against any type of crisis, whether it’s a natural disaster or a power failure, the cloud offers a superb business continuity plan. Since data is stored and backed up to the cloud, it is safely and securely tucked away at a remote location. This means that this data can be accessed quickly, which will allow a business to minimize downtime and reduce its loss of productivity.

Imagine if there was a fire in the break room of an office, or servers crashed due to a large power outage, or a broken pipe in the floor above caused water to trickle down over the top of a server rack. All these disasters would be more than enough to make a company’s data vulnerable to damage, regardless of whether the servers were armed to the teeth with the best security apps to ward off online threats.

The costs of any crisis would be enormous. It would not only be the cost of replacing the hardware but also of paying a data recovery service to search for and retrieve the lost data. Moreover, it’s not only a financial cost but also a time and opportunity cost. It would take time to get new hardware and to recover the data. It would also result in a long business downtime.

However, if the same disaster occurred to a company that was using cloud computing, only local desktop computers, laptops, and devices would need to be purchased. Since there were no servers in the office, the data would not be destroyed. Within a day, a company could replace their hardware losses and get back to business by accessing the data that was stored on remote servers.

Performance

Although using the cloud offers a superior range of security benefits over an on-premise solution, it also offers more scalability, flexibility, collaboration.

A cloud service provider will only charge a business for the resources that it uses. Consequently, a business can scale its demand up or down depending on its needs.

A cloud service can be accessed from anywhere and from any Internet-based device. This improves workplace flexibility. Employees can access company data outside the office when they are working at home or on the road.

A cloud service will allow a company to increase its ability to collaborate with telecommuters, outsourcers, or third-party business partners.

Security & Performance

In the digital age, no business is safe from security threats unless it takes steps to develop a comprehensive data security plan. In this regard, cloud computing is safer than an on-premise infrastructure. Additionally, in highly competitive industries, cloud computing provides a technological edge.